


Giving Back

by yukisadah



Category: Tokyo Ghoul
Genre: Gen, Team bonding /o/
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-16
Updated: 2015-06-16
Packaged: 2018-04-04 15:27:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,336
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4142931
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yukisadah/pseuds/yukisadah
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's Maman's birthday, and Saiko is determined to make a cake. Even if she'd rather just buy one and not even bother.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Giving Back

**Author's Note:**

> First Tokyo Ghoul/Tokyo Ghoul:Re fic I promised a friend I'd write...hope it's okay ww

“I’m back,” Shirazu called out, stepping into the modern-styled home he and his fellow squad members shared. Rubbing the back of his neck, he glanced around the empty sitting room with a slight frown. He had been out that afternoon, taking the quiet Thursday to go out and explore the town. They were still recuperating from the recent invasion of the Auction, so there weren’t any pending investigations he really had needed to spend his time on.

It was nice to have a break now and then, walk around and see the people they were protecting. He had almost considered dropping into the cafe he, Mutsuki, and Sassan had stopped at that time, then thought better of it. While the food hadn’t been bad, there had definitely been something awkward about it. There was something about that place that touched at Sassan, and the people working there seemed to recognize him too.

Had that place had something to do with his past? Shirazu didn’t want to be nosing into their superior’s life, he knew better than that, and besides, Sassan didn’t seem to want to know about his past. If Sassan didn’t want to know, why should Shirazu?

Speaking of, it didn’t seem like anyone else was home at the moment. The sitting room was devoid of any of his companions, and he didn’t hear anything--

“Why isn’t this working? Yukihira can do it so easily...and Maman always cooks!” a voice called out, shattering the peaceful silence Shirazu had been musing over.

Face dropping at the familiar voice, the male let out a sigh and dragged himself forward, following the sound of the voice into the kitchen. Standing in the doorway to the room, he watched with uncontained annoyance as a head of blue hair faced him, the girl whose head it sat upon staring at a computer screen on the counter. There was a strong smell of bananas, mocha, and sugar in the room, mixed with a hint of..no, scratch that, a lot of cinnamon.

Holding a hand over his nose, the partial-ghoul spoke up, “Hey, Saiko, what exactly are you doing in here?” he questioned, an edge of accusation lacing his tone.

“Ah, Shirazu! Perfect timing, you can help me make Maman’s cake,” the girl replied, turning to face the other.

“I’m surprised a lazy NEET like you wants to make something, especially a cake for someone else,” Shirazu commented, coming up to stand by the girl, “And why exactly should I help you make this cake?”

“It’s for Maman’s birthday today, I want to make something for him,” she replied, puffing out her cheeks at the accusation. Of course, she couldn’t argue the lazy NEET thing. It was true. Still, she wanted to do something for her Maman’s birthday, what with how much the other took care of her. It was only right she do something nice for him when she could.

“Sassan’s birthday?” Shirazu repeated, blinking at the new information. Huh. He had had no idea the other’s birthday was today, their mentor hadn’t even mentioned it. Hm.

Frowning a bit, the man stepped forward, “Well, in that case, I’ll help out,” he stated, turning his gaze to the computer screen she had been staring at. Reading the words, the male repeated them, “A ‘banana cake with mocha frosting and salted candied peanuts’? Sounds like something he’d like,” he approved, thinking back to their leader. Sassan was always drinking coffee, after all, and he did have that strange poster of a banana, so he probably liked them.

“So what were you yelling about before?” the light-haired male questioned, gazing around the room, eyes stopping on the plate of...something...seated next to the computer.

“I keep trying to make the cake, but for some reason it always comes out wrong,” Saiko explained with a frown, gesturing to the mess in front of them. The “cake” resembled more of a slightly burnt crumble covered in a dark mess of soopy “frosting”. Cinnamon wafted from it in an overwhelming odor, barely joined by hints of mocha and banana. Saiko certainly hadn’t been lying when she had stated she couldn’t cook before.

Not that Shirazu could either.

Still, cooking and baking were different things, weren’t they? Wasn’t baking easier or something? Well, he would give it a shot anyways. How bad could it possibly go?

\--

“I’m back!” Mutsuki called out, slipping off his shoes and stepping into the cozy abode they all had learned to call home. He had been out just as the others had, having gone to spend their downtime at the park for a day of rest. It had been nice to sit for a bit, but the pull of home had called to him, and the boy had decided to call it a day as the sun began to set.

Upon receiving no reply, the half-ghoul walked forward into the foyer, eye gazing around the house until it rested on the window peaking into the kitchen. Spotting two familiar heads of hair, one a blue color and the other blond, Mutsuki gave a small surprised smile and walked forward, making his way into the kitchen as well. It seemed as though everyone else was out at the moment, and it was rare for Shirazu and Saiko to get along so well, especially in the kitchen when neither of them could cook.

“Are you two doing something?” he questioned, coming up behind the pair as they bickered over something.

“Ah, Tooru, maybe you can figure it out,” Shirazu spoke, turning to face the other, having seemingly heard the other step into the room.

“Figure what out?” Mutsuki asked, curious as to what they were doing and what he may be able to solve for them.

“If you double the temperature when baking a cake, wouldn’t that cut the time in half? We tried that and the cake ended up burnt,” the other man replied, gesturing to the black smouldering mass between himself and Saiko on the counter.

Saiko was pouting, looking very displeased at their creation, “This is too difficult, why can we never do this right?” she asked rhetorically, mumbling about how it looked much easier in anime.

“Why not just buy one, then?” the green-haired boy offered, then paused, “Why are you two making a cake together anyways?”

“No, I want to make one for Maman,” Saiko shot down, wanting to do something special for her parental figure. It wouldn’t be the same to just buy one, though she would have done that in the first place in any other scenario.

“It’s apparently Sassan’s birthday so we’re trying to make a cake for him,” Shirazu explained, “though we’re not having much luck.”

“Sasaki’s birthday is today?” the one-eyed boy asked, just as surprised by the information as Shirazu had been. Their mentor never spoke about his personal life, so it wasn’t much of a surprise they didn’t know when his birthday was, but still. It felt wrong not to know, especially when the other always made it a point to do something nice for their birthdays.

Giving a small smile, the boy put forth his request, “Then, do you mind if I help too?”

\--

“...I’m back. (Don’t talk to me),” Urie grumbled, slipping into the entrance of their shared home. How he hated it here, with these weaklings. Maybe once he got a promotion he could move out and away from these annoy people. At least it seemed like no one was home.

“There’s way too much cinnamon in this, no doubt,” a voice called out, breaking the silence Urie had been so glad to have been greeted with.

Eyes narrowing at the sound, the violet-haired male scowled and immediately turned to leave for his room, not wanting to have anything to do with whatever it was those idiots were doing in the kitchen. It was common knowledge Sasaki was the only one of their squad who had even a semblance of culinary skills, so it couldn’t possibly mean anything good if even one of the others was trying to make something in the kitchen.

“Ah, Urie, is that you?” Mutsuki called out, his head popping out from the doorway to the kitchen.

Annoyance coursing through him at being caught, the male replied curtly, “I’m going to my room. (Don’t talk to me).”

“No, you’re going to help us. It’s Sasaki’s birthday and we’re making him a cake,” the other replied with a frown, grabbing and Urie’s shirt collar.

“Hey, let go of me!” he growled, scrabbling to escape the other’s hold on him. As if he cared about that guy’s birthday. Heck, Urie didn’t even like Sasaki, he wanted nothing to do with this pathetic attempt at a birthday celebration.

It was in vain, of course. Mutsuki wanted Urie to help, and he was going to make sure the other helped. It was going to be a birthday gift from all of them. After everything Sasaki had continuously done for them, they owed him at least this much.

“Come on, we’re having some trouble again,” the green-haired boy explained, pulling the other into the kitchen with him.

\--

 

“I’m home!” Sasaki called out with a smile, looking around expectantly. It was fairly late in the evening, almost dinnertime really, so he knew for certain that his “children” were home. None of them seemed to be playing videogames or sitting on the couch, so it was likely they were just resting in their rooms and waiting for him to come home and make dinner.

Not hearing a sound, the white and black-haired male assumed the others were merely busying themselves with whatever it was they wished and made his way towards the kitchen. He might as well get a jump on dinner now, it certainly wasn’t going to cook itself! He’d have to make something with a lot of meet again, perhaps carrot and beef stew. Mutsuki really did need the nutrients, and the others could use them as well.

Smiling at the image of everyone seated and eating dinner together, the male shrugged off his jacket and hung it on one of the chairs in front of the window to the kitchen, making his way into the aforementioned room. Looking around the place, he noticed with a sense of worry that it was unusually messy.

Had someone tried to make something? Had someone broken in? Haise knew how bad his charges were at cooking, so neither option was optimal, really. Moving to the pantry, the male made to pull out his apron and get to work.

Reaching for the handle and pulling open the door, the young man could only stare in shock as four younger partial-ghouls spilled out of the closed room, falling onto him with various yells.

“Ah, the cake--!” Mutsuki cried out, his particular cry catching Haise’s attention as Saiko was the first to slip forward, a plate with a dark brown coated cake slipping along with her and flying up into the air.

Barreling into their surrogate parent, the four squad members crashed into the man, knocking him to the floor with a thud, his head smacking against the tile floor. Giving a groan, the half-ghoul moved to sit up, putting his elbow down onto the floor as leverage, before the cake fell down once more and smack on top of his head.

Silence filled the room, with the squad members all looking to their leader with varying degrees of horror as the grey-eyed male blinked owlishly. A smile was all it took to break the tense air. Haise’s face broke first, soft laughter following after, the other squad members relaxing a bit at the sound.

“What were you guys doing with this?” he asked, once the others had stood up and gotten off of him, Mutsuki offering him a helping hand in standing up.

“W-Well, we heard it was your birthday, and,” Shirazu started awkwardly, fidgeting a bit.

“I wanted to make a cake for you, Maman!” Saiko explained, then looked away, pushing her two pointer fingers against each other in a nervous motion, “Though...I didn’t mean to drop it on you.”

The elder male stared at the four for a moment, Saiko and Urie avoiding his gaze while Mutsuki and Shirazu seemed worried as to what his response would be. Giving them another smile with a huff of air, the male replied lightly, “Thank you, I’ve never had anyone try and do something like that for me before,” that he could remember, at least, “Though I can’t eat the cake anyways,” he gave a laugh.

“Ah, that’s right, Sassan is…” Shirazu’s eyes widened the sudden realization hitting him. So they had spent all afternoon making a cake for someone who couldn’t even make cake How could they have forgotten?

“The thought counts,” Haise gave a small laugh, truly touched by their actions. He had spent the day in meetings, antagonized by certain other members for things beyond his control that had occurred during the auction, and he had just wanted to come home and flop down. In fact, Haise had forgotten it was his birthday until his “kids” had fallen on him with the cake.

It wasn’t as if Arima and Akira didn’t celebrate his birthday in his own way, they did, but there was something different about this. While Haise did appreciate the book Arima had given him, and the apron Akira had gifted him, this almost meant more to him. There was something almost nostalgic about it.

In the back of his mind, buried deep where he could no longer reach, the memory of Hide doing the exact same thing rested carefully until the day it would be unearthed once more. Kaneki Ken’s birthday may have been a different day, but his best friend had pulled much the same thing many years before. Years before Haise could even begin to remember. For now, though, it was time to focus on the present.

Haise Sasaki’s happy days with his children.


End file.
